Author Archives: borehead - Moderator
Search ceased for missing fisherman Jason Hollows in Hawke’s Bay
The search for missing fisherman Jason Hollows has been officially suspended 10 days after he went overboard off the coast of Hawke’s Bay. There has been an extensive search for Hollows, a 54-year-old fisherman from Otago, since he went overboard on Easter Monday (April 1) about 11km off Waimārama. He was reported missing about 8pm that night. He had been onboard a fishing boat the Pacific Challenger. more, >>click to read<< 10:51
Local fishermen speak out against proposed bill seeking further restrictions on commercial fishing
For Zack Robinson, fishing isn’t just a job. “The ocean’s my life,” he said. Robinson has been gillnetting for 15 years, catching halibut and seabass. “Gillnetting is my passion. I love it. There are a lot of misconceptions about net fishing. It’s not a dirty fishery like they say it is. We are not the bad guys, and that hurts, to work so hard and to be told you’re no good,” Robinson said. He says that if Assembly Bill 2220 passes, it would threaten his livelihood. “Any more regulation might take us out completely. “People don’t stop eating halibut or swordfish, what they do is they’ll get it from another source,” Hyman said. Kimberly Ray suggests gill-netters can find another way to fish. more, >>click to read<< 09:35
Foreign seafood could be banned at Louisiana schools
Students could be guaranteed domestic catch when seafood is on the school menu if a proposal before the Louisiana Legislature becomes law. The state House approved a bill Tuesday that would prohibit any public or private schools that receive state money from serving foreign seafood to students. House Bill 429, sponsored by Rep. Marcus Bryant, D-New Iberia, passed in a 94-7 vote with bipartisan support. It will next head to the Senate for consideration. An influx of cheap foreign catch, imported mostly from South America and Asia, has flooded Louisiana restaurants and retailers. Consumers are either oblivious to it or mistakenly believe they’re eating local fare because of deceptive labeling practices, according to the Louisiana Shrimp Association. more, >>click to read<< 07:54
Project Nujio’qonik: In megaproject-weary Newfoundland, a massive hydrogen operation has some on edge
A multibillion-dollar megaproject in Newfoundland is one step closer to becoming Canada’s first commercial green hydrogen operation, but some in the country’s easternmost province wonder whether their government has learned from its mistakes. The first two phases of development would involve windfarms of at least 150 turbines built on Newfoundland’s Port au Port Peninsula and in the nearby Codroy Valley, on the island’s west coast. Those turbines would power a hydrogen and ammonia production plant, to be built in Stephenville, N.L., located about 145 kilometres northeast of Codroy. The experimental project would exploit a massive rural area of Newfoundland as a testing ground for the benefit of a private company, said Nick Mercer, an assistant environmental science professor at the University of Prince Edward Island. more, >>click to read<< 06:50
Crab harvesters’ union calls for price formula set out in past provincial report
With their boats tied up and crab pots still on dry land, fish harvesters and union officials are calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to revisit a 2023 report that sets out what they say is a fair way forward for the snow crab fishery. At a news conference in St. John’s on Wednesday, Fish, Food & Allied Workers union president Greg Pretty pointed to a report last year from the province’s fish price-setting strategic review team, chaired by Glenn Blackwood. Pretty says the pricing formula set out in that report, which followed a six-week tie-up last season, would give harvesters a fair market share. Glen Winslow, a St. John’s harvester who was part of the bargaining committee, says the formula set out in Blackwood’s report would have allowed for a larger share for harvesters if the markets had performed better. “The Blackwood formula would have fixed all our problems, but it was thrown out at the last minute.” Video, more, >>click to read<< 18:24
Crab Harvesters Demand Fair Share
JOHN’S, NL – FFAW-Unifor is not surprised by provincial government’s decision to approve the World Energy GH2 project’s environmental assessment and ultimately green light the project. On February 28th, 2024, before the approval announcement by Minister Bernard Davis on April 9thand despite continued reassurance from World Energy GH2 that the project was entirely privately funded, the Government of Canada announced a $128 million-dollar federal loan to support the development. It was very clear from federal Minister Seamus O’Regan’s announcement on that date that there is significant political will, and a great sense of urgency, to move the project forward. FFAW met with Minister Davis twice in March to amplify the concerns of fish harvesters and the continuous aversion by World Energy to work collaboratively with FFAW-Unifor towards meaningful consultation. The harvesting sector is not being engaged as a major stakeholder nor as an industry that will inevitably be impacted, and this divergence is creating a great deal of frustration and mistrust for the project. more, >>click to read<< 14:35
Crew School provides a reality sea trial for commercial fishing wanabees
Along Gig Harbor’s waterfront, this vocational trend is gently materializing in the form of a newly organized Crew School for potential commercial fishermen — and women. During March, seven people completed this hands-on training program that essentially offers a reality-based test drive for those interested in commercial fishing aboard a 58-foot purse seiner. Lifelong local fisherman and purse seine captain Gregg Lovrovich is program lead and creator of the crew-in-training curriculum. He coaches rookies through knot skills, gear maintenance, net setting/handling, safety and survival skills, not to mention the realities of living for months in a 58-foot space with 3-4 crew members who get all too familiar with one another. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 13:04
California – Crabbers likely to use new gear next season
Typically, the Commercial crab season starts Nov. 15, but the 2023-24 season was delayed for a fifth year in a row and eventually postponed to start in January 2024. The short season could spell change to come for fishermen since Salmon season might be on the chopping block next. David Lowe, a captain of the Jacqueline L. fishing vessel in Pillar Point Harbor, said it wasn’t the best season but his team will be experimenting with netless pop-up gear for the next season. “There’s 14 boats here that are [experimenting with pop-up gear],” said Lowe. “They’re going to see how it goes this year, because of all the whale and turtle entanglements.” more, >>click to read<< 10:49
Lobster harvesters in Atlantic Canada to vote on increasing minimum legal size this year
At stake is maintaining access to the United States market. “It will be an individual vote. That’s a big decision that every single enterprise and owner has to look at from their own business,” said Heather Mulock, executive director of the Coldwater Lobster Association, which represents fishermen in lobster fishing area 34 (LFA 34). In late May or June, the 979 licence holders in the area will be asked to vote on whether to match increases in allowable U.S. catch measurements that will come into effect Jan. 1, 2025, and again in 2027. Live Canadian lobster that fall under the new limits would not be allowed into the U.S. That includes bonded shipments of lobster under the new minimum in the U.S., according to an information package sent to fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia. That could block trucking of “undersized” Canadian lobster across the border for flights to Asia from airports in Boston or New York. more, >>click to read<< 08: 57
Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 141′ RSW Steel Stern Trawler, 1650HP CAT
To review specifications, information, and 43 photos’, Video, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series, >click here< 07:33
Gay Fish Company to hold Blessing of the Fleet ceremony, public welcome
Since 1948, the Gay Fish Company on St. Helena Island has been fishing, shrimping, processing, and selling local seafood to thousands of customers from all over the country, and the world. After 76 years in business, you would be hard pressed to find many other families in the Lowcountry who are more synonymous with the shrimping and fishing industry. To do something special for the commercial fishermen that are docked there, and to raise awareness for the industry to the public, the family-owned seafood company is hosting its first ever Blessing of the Fleet Ceremony on April 27th, and the public is welcome to attend. more, >>click to read<< 06:22
Floating device would likely not have saved fisherman, inquiry hears
A fisherman who fell overboard from a local whitefish trawler is unlikely to have survived even if he had worn his personal flotation device (PFD) correctly, an inquiry into his death heard on Tuesday. Edison Lacaste died after falling into the water while carrying out repairs to fishing gear on the twin rigger Copious in the early hours of 18 February 2021. The crew instantly responded to the incident by throwing a floating mooring rope but the 45-year-old Philippine national became unresponsive within two to three minutes. The second day of a Fatal Accident Inquiry held at Lerwick Sheriff Court also heard that the owners of the fishing vessel, 60 North Fishing (Shetland) Ltd, had complied with all necessary maritime health and safety requirements, and had held and recorded man overboard drills on a regular basis. more, >>click to read<< 16:17
Crab tie-up means plant workers turn to income support, says Opposition critic
After weeks of protesting, including shutting down Confederation Building, fish harvesters scored big with concessions on who they could sell their catches to. The situation soured soon after, when the new crab price formula was revealed. Put forward by the Association for Seafood Producers, the floor price is set at $2.60 per pound and the harvester’s share is set at 37 per cent of market value above $8 per pound. Harvesters are refusing to go out on the water with the current formula. Bonavista MHA Craig Pardy called the situation unfortunate and said he’d hoped to avoid a repeat of last year, when there was a six-week delay to the start of the season. Pardy said he’s heard that more than 50 Bonavista plant workers have had their EI support elapse and are now without income. more, >>click to read<< 14:02
NOAA/NMFS Ignores Dangerous Sound Levels from Pile Driving – By Jim Lovgren
A new recently released report from Rand Acoustics, LLC scientifically documented that the stated sound levels created by the pile driving of wind turbine stanchions into the seafloor is much louder than the NOAA approved levels. In a study dated November 2, 2023, the researchers used acoustic listening devises to record the underwater sounds being created from piledriving by the crane ship “Orion” in the Vineyard wind BOEM lease area OCS-A 0501 southwest of Nantucket Island. Prior to this research, Rand Acoustics documented the underwater sound levels being produced by some of the research vessels using sonar and seismic devises to examine and document the seafloor prior to turbine construction. This research proved that the sound levels produced by these research vessels exceeded the stated sound levels approved by NOAA/NMFS to protect marine mammals and resulted in the documentary film “Thrown to the wind”. more, >>click to read<< 11:28
Silver Bay Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafoods Announce Valdez Acquisition and 2024 Operational Plan
Silver Bay Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafoods announced today that the agreement for Silver Bay to acquire Peter Pan’s Valdez facility has been finalized and that Silver Bay plans to operate the Peter Pan facilities in Port Moller and Dillingham for the 2024 salmon season. Shifting operations of the two facilities to SBS is a component of a larger restructuring, still being finalized, in which Silver Bay would acquire Peter Pan’s processing facilities and support sites after the 2024 salmon season. Peter Pan will remain active in conducting the remaining activities needed to close out 2023 operations, including sales and accounting functions. Both companies are committed to a seamless transition and ensuring minimal disruption to fishermen, communities, and employees. more, >>click to read<< 10:21
New Design Scalloper offers Economic Operation
Although the original brief had been for a sister vessel to Eternal Light, which has been fishing successfully since its delivery in 2019 to Fraserburgh company Whitelink Seafoods, the choice went to a new design scalloper that would provide more deck and gear space, better crew conditions and greater economy. The new design, developed with Macduff Ship Design to incorporate a more efficient hull form and a new stern gear package designed to improve fuel efficiency. The 19.98-metre Eternal Promise has a beam of 7.40 metres and a fishroom capable of holding 33 tonnes of bagged scallops. This is an addition to Whitelink’s growing fleet and is designed to operate year-round in UK waters. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 09:03
Accused poachers ‘cannot pretend to hide,’ says province’s top court
New Brunswick’s highest court has shed light on an important decision it made in a lawsuit against alleged poachers accused of stealing baby eels. The Court of Appeal delivered its reasons late last month why it had ordered the province’s registrar of motor vehicles to turn over the names of 115 vehicle owners to Rothesay businesswoman Mary Ann Holland, the owner of Brunswick Aquaculture Limited and Alder Seafood Limited. Her lawyer Barry Morrison argued in a filing last month that Holland and her staff had witnessed dozens of people illegally catching lucrative baby eels in river estuaries in the spring of 2023 after Ottawa had closed the fishery. more, >>click to read<< 07:53
Lawmakers support new fees on Louisiana seafood dealers who import foreign catch
House Bill 748, sponsored by Rep. Jessica Domangue, R-Houma, would raise the state’s imported seafood safety fee from a flat $100 per year to a 0.1 percent assessment on the company’s gross revenue. The proposal marks the freshman lawmaker’s first bill, which Domangue, the daughter of a commercial fisherman, called “very special” for its ability to protect the domestic seafood industry. It cleared the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment with unanimous support and will head to the House floor for consideration. Imported seafood has become so ubiquitous in Louisiana and across the nation that it has decimated the once-thriving domestic fishing industry. The low cost and ample availability of foreign catch has put negative pressure on local product prices, making it near impossible for those in the Louisiana commercial fishing industry to stay above water profit wise. more, >>click to read<< 06:36
DFO appears to break own laws by allowing sale of commercial licences involved in alleged illegal controlling agreement
“DFO may be breaking the very fishing laws it is mandated to enforce,” says Ryan Cleary, an inshore fishery activist who has brought a number of alleged controlling agreements to DFO’s attention. The controversy surrounds La Scie-based fisherman Jimmy Lee Foss who went public earlier this year with allegations he was in a controlling agreement with Robin Quinlan of Quinlan Brothers Ltd. Foss purchased the Ocean Surfer II and suite of commercial licences in April 2022 with a $3.8-million loan from the CIBC — a deal he alleges was arranged and co-signed by Quinlan. Foss said the investigator told him a request would be made for his commercial licenses to be frozen until the probe was complete, but DFO licensing branch forwarded him a letter late last week to say that wouldn’t be the case. Foss fears the licence will end up back in Quinlan’s hands. more, >>click to read<< 20:22
Overspreading Since the Seventies
NOAA Fisheries has been overspreading their nets since they changed from a side trawler to stern trawler back in the 1970s! On the Delaware side trawler, the wires were put together on the side of the boat and on NOAA’s Stern Trawler Bigelow, the wires are off the stern of the boat which is 32 feet apart. This is causing NOAA’s over-spread nets. Now NOAA has been working with a restrictor-rope on the doors, to stop the doors from over spreading the nets. more, >>click to read<< By Rocky Novello
Skipper recalls man overboard incident as fatal accident inquiry begins
The Skipper of a local whitefish trawler told an inquiry at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Monday how he was unable to hold on to a fellow crewman who fell overboard while carrying out repairs. The body of Edison Lacaste was recovered from the waters by the Sumburgh based search and rescue helicopter 30 miles southeast of Sumburgh in February 2021. During the first day of a Fatal Accident Inquiry into the death of the 45-year-old Philippine national, skipper of the Copious LK 985 Andrew White recalled the events that led to the tragic loss. The twin rigger was hauling its nets in the early hours of 18 February, when the crew became aware that a hammer lock on one of the wires attached to the net had failed and needed to be replaced. more, >>click to read<< 14:50
“Stand Clear the Line: Swordfishing on the SouthCoast. – New Swordfishing Exhibit at New Bedford Heritage Center
No one thinks much about commercial swordfishing and the Port of New Bedford, but 50 years ago or so, that line of work was fairly prominent on the waterfront. The New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, located at 38 Bethel Street, is reviving those memories with a new exhibit, “Stand Clear the Line: Swordfishing on the SouthCoast.” Ritter said many of the fishermen who helped with the exhibit also went after swordfish back in the day. “We’re going to have a number of photos, artifacts, and media displays for people to explore the change of gear and technology used by local fishermen as they transitioned from harpooning to long-lining,” he said. more, >>click to read<< 11:51
NCFA Weekly Update for March 11, 2024
Advisory Comities Meet This Week to Discuss Shrimp Trawl Area Closure The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) is proposing closing shrimp trawling in dozens of areas from Kitty Hawk to Sneads Ferry to protect submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Thousands of acres that include a multitude of areas traditionally worked by small shrimp boats. more, >>click to read<< 10:19
Newfoundland and Labrador: Crab Harvesters Demand Fair Share
The crab fishing season officially started on Saturday, April 6th, yet all harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador stayed tied up demanding their fair share. The Blackwood Report, commissioned by the province, demonstrated a fair-sharing arrangement for fish harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador. Harvesters refuse to fish for any formula that undersells their slice of the pie. What are harvesters demanding: more, >>click to read<< 09:24
Something Is Starting to Smell Fishy About the Global Seafood Supply Chain
The past half year has seen a steady stream of disturbing reports about serious human rights abuses tied to industrial fishing. The story about conditions at the shrimp plant in India come against a broader backdrop. The same week that the whistleblower documents were published, the Corporate Accountability Lab, which is an advocacy group of lawyers and researchers, released a report detailing severe cases of captive and forced labor as well as environmental concerns often tied to wastewater at a variety of other shrimp plants in India. It’s worth remembering the history here. Labor abuse tied to seafood is not a new problem. And yet, here we are again: the seafood problems previously highlighted in Thailand are now being widely revealed in China and India. more, >>click to read<< 08:05
Scots fisherman who sold langoustines to Queen, Gordon Ramsay and Simon Cowell up for prestigious award
Ian Wightman, who brings in his catch at Largs Pier, North Ayrshire, has made a name for himself in the sector by specialising in pioneering sustainable methods. He’s now been nominated in the Under 10 Metre Fisherman of the Year category for the 2024 Fishing News Awards, which spans the UK and Ireland. Ian works the Eilidh Anne GK2 vessel with his main catch being Scottish langoustines. The prize is awarded to a UK or Ireland-based fisherman in an under-10m vessel who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to the industry. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 06:36
SLO County fishermen sue Coastal Commission, offshore wind companies. ‘We’ve got rights here’
The Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Organization and the Port San Luis Commercial Fishermen’s Organization are suing the California Coastal Commission, State Lands Commission, three offshore wind development companies and environmental consulting company CSA Ocean Sciences Inc to stop the approval of permits for site surveys, according to a complaint filed in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Feb. 29.The lawsuit asks the court to block state agencies from issuing site survey permits until a statewide plan is developed to protect fisheries from offshore wind development. links, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:31
Time to save the Right Whale from the Green-Left
Back in the sixties and seventies, “Save the Whales” was the exclusive domain of the political left. As Bob Dylan might say, “The times they are a changin.” Three major “conservative” organizations – the National Legal Policy Center, Heartland Institute, and my organization, the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow – recently filed a major lawsuit in a Washington, D.C. federal court to save the Right Whale from facing potential oblivion. Why aren’t the larger Green groups, unlike the grassroots ones, rallying around the efforts of these organizations to save Right Whales? Good question. Whales are being threatened by the Biden Administration’s fast-track plans to hurriedly place 30,000 MW of wind power generation off the Eastern coast, and doing so without the proper sort of environmental impact assessment they might otherwise perform for, say, offshore oil. more, >>click to read<< 11:11
Storm Kathleen ties up Irish trawlers amid lucrative prawn fishery
It is the first weekend of April and the lucrative prawn fishery on the Porcupine Bank closes in three weeks for Irish trawlers. The bank is 200km off the west coast. Porcupine prawns are a prized catch, a delicacy. Irish trawlers should be flat out, but Storm Kathleen has forced them to tie up in ports like Castletownbere. Around 40 Irish boats fish for prawns on the Porcupine Bank. This weekend, two dozen of those trawlers are tied up in Castletownbere in west Cork. The remainder are taking shelter in other ports along the west coast. Video, Photos, more, >>click to read<< 09:35
‘I’m a fisherman in East Lothian and I am fighting for my survival’
An East Lothian fisherman has warned that his industry could ‘disappear’ if governments do not address funding issues. Barry Brunton, 49, who was born and bred in the fishing town of Dunbar, has said fishermen feel let down, angry and fed up at the treatment they have experienced from both Holyrood and Westminster. Despite this, Barry argues that financial support has been non-existent from politicians and he fears that if it is not forthcoming then Scotland could lose one of its oldest industries. “We are fearing for our future. There are four boats that are up for sale in Dunbar since storm Babet which is unheard of. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 07:42
